Malameks
Malameks are an intelligent race of pterasaur-like creatures found mainly on the Outer Continent. They are about three feet tall, losing a few inches due to their stooped posture. Their wingspan at full stretch is about eight feet. Their skeleton is light and honey-combed, making them weigh about half as much as a human of equivalent size.

Malameks are awkward on the ground. They must walk on all four limbs, with their wings bent backwards so that the "hand", a vestigial cluster of fingers near the centre of their wing, is used for support. With two short legs their mode of walking is slow and laborious, resembling an old man on crutches. However, in the air they are able to glide majestically on updrafts and thermals, although it takes a lot of time and practice for a malamek to learn to fly properly. Their "feet" have four dextrous fingers and are used for manipulation. A landed malamek must therefore be seated or resting on his wing joints to use them. Malameks are able to hold weapons in their feet, which they prefer to use for fly-past attacks but are able to attack on the ground without suffering any penalties.

The head of a malamek is small and rounded with a beak-like muzzle full of sharp teeth. Coloration varies between sub-races of malamek, but they are commonly a sandy yellow-brown. Males have red patches on the tops of their heads - bright scarlet in younger specimens darkening to deep burgundy as the malamek ages. They are quite long-lived, reaching about 120 on average. The oldest recorded malamek ever was 198 years old.

Malameks have a calculated and rational outlook on life that makes them appear rather cold to other races; true to a certain extent as they are seem to show a limited range of emotions. Malamek language is very clipped and precise. They have few synonyms and little in the way of grammatical rules. It is conjectured that they have no more than about two thousand words in their language. Malameks strive to be pithy.

Malameks can be found, on Fallen Sun, in a wide range of cultures, from the hunter-gatherers of Tuzu to the highly organised Pedocracy of Sindu. Within all of these cultures, however, two distinct breeds of malamek seem to dominate. Sages are more intelligent, given to exploration of magic whereas swiftwings are more physical, often serving the malamek colony as hunters and warriors. Sages and swiftwings form mixed colonies and are able to interbreed but the offspring are either sages or swiftwings, there are no blended types. Rumours exist of other types of malamek, including the high malameks of the Togarassi Mountains and the sundream malameks of the deep desert, but little is known of these to the wider world.

Combat: Malameks are physically quite weak, and so avoid ground-based melee combat whenever possible. Swiftwing malameks use their aerial agility to swoop down to attack opponents in passing, or bombard them from the air.

The malamek given above has a single level of the swiftwing malamek racial class, and had the following ability scores before racial adjustment: Str 12, Dex 13, Con 11, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 8

Small size. Malameks gain a +1 size bonus to Armour Class and attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus to Hide checks. They must use smaller sized weapons than humans, and their carrying capacity is 3/4 that of a Medium creature.

10 ft. base speed. Malameks are incapable of running when on the ground.

Glide (Ex): A malamek can use its wing membranes to glide, and never takes damage from falling as long as it is conscious. A malamek can glide for 20 ft. for every 5ft. of height it starts from. Gliding speed is 40 ft. per round, with an average maneuvrability. A malamek cannot use its wing membranes to gain height, and cannot glide when carrying a medium or heavy load.

Bite: A malamek can use its bite as a natural weapon, causing 1d3 piercing damage plus Strength modifier. Malameks tend to find it uncouth to do so, however.

Sage malameks gain a +2 racial bonus to Decipher Script, Spellcraft and Use Magical Device checks. They may treat all Knowledge skills as class skills.

Swiftwing malameks gains a +2 racial bonus to Balance, Jump and Tumble checks, and may always treat these as class skills. Furthermore they gain a +1 bonus to Initiative checks.

All malameks gain a +2 racial bonus to Spot checks.

Malamek Racial Levels
Malameks are suitable for use as a player character race, and may take levels of "malamek" at any time in order to improve their racial abilities. There are two racial classes, one for sages and one for swiftwings, and a malamek may only take racial levels in its base type; no multiclassing between sage and swiftwing. These levels may be taken at any time, even at 1st level, and do not count towards multiclassing restrictions. A malamek need not take all three levels, nor any at all. Most 1st level malamek NPCs have a level of malamek instead of an NPC class.

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Swiftwing malameks are proficient with all simple weapons and with light armour.

Flight: At 1st level a swiftwing malamek gains the ability to fly fully, at a speed of 40 ft. and a maneuvrability of average. A malamek may move at running speeds when flying, provided it moves in a straight line. A malamek may fly even if encumbered with a medium or heavy load, but its speed is reduced as per standard encumbrance rules, and it may not be able to move at running speeds if heavily encumbered. Once a malamek is able to fly, it is also able to glide when encumbered. At 3rd level its fly speed increases to 50 ft. per round and its maneuvrability increases to good.

Bonus Feat: At 2nd level a swiftwing malamek may select a bonus feat from any of the following: Hover, Fly-By Attack, Improved Fly-By Attack, Wingover. It must meet any prerequisites of the feat. At the gamesmaster's option, other non-SRD flight-based feats may be added to this list.

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: Sage malameks are proficient with all simple weapons.

Spellcasting: Sage malamek levels stack with those of any spellcasting class for the purposes of determining caster level, spells per day and spells known. A malamek does not gain any other level-dependent effects from a spellcasting class (e.g. bonus feats for wizards). If a malamek has multiple spellcasting classes, it must choose which one its malamek levels stack with, and this remains for all levels of malamek.

Flight: At 2nd level a sage malamek gains the ability to fly fully, at a speed of 40 ft. and a maneuvrability of poor. A malamek may move at running speeds when flying, provided it moves in a straight line. A malamek may fly even if encumbered with a medium or heavy load, but its speed is reduced as per standard encumbrance rules, and it may not be able to move at running speeds if heavily encumbered. Once a malamek is able to fly, it is also able to glide when encumbered. At 3rd level its maneuvrability increases to average.

The malamek wizard is a fairly typical example of the kind of sage malamek that pursues magical study. Its selection of spells is that of one given to the study of magic rather than adventuring, although it is usually prepared for trouble of some kind. The malamek wizard may be used as an ally, perhaps in an adventure where the player characters are hired to escort it to mysterious ruins, or it could be a rival in the search for ancient mysteries, perhaps the owner of something the player characters want.